How Thomas Tuchel’s Coaching Style Has Changed Bayern Munich’s Tactics – Tactical Analysis

It was an eyebrow-raising decision for Bayern Munich to relieve the highly-rated Julian Nagelsmann from his duties following a 2-1 defeat to Xabi Alonso’s Bayern Leverkusen.

The loss dropped the Bundesliga champions down to second in the table as bitter rivals Borussia Dortmund moved to the top and were on an incredible run of form.

Bayern’s board didn’t want to risk allowing the eleventh-straight league title to slip from their grasp.

They pulled the plug on Nagelsmann’s time at the club despite still being in the quarter-finals of both the UEFA Champions League and the DFB-Pokal.

Thomas Tuchel was tasked with potentially overseeing a solid end to the campaign.

The team put all its eggs in one basket, hoping that the German coach would pull off a feat similar to that he achieved with Chelsea two years prior.

Unfortunately, the eggs have already fallen out of the basket.

While Bayern are back at the top of the Bundesliga—although only by two points—the European giants have been eliminated from the Champions League and the DFB-Pokal.

In fact, Tuchel’s first six games have not gone as well as many expected, winning just two while exiting two competitions.

This Thomas Tuchel tactical analysis will examine the tactics that Tuchel has been using at the Allianz Arena since his appointment and analyze the different ways that Die Bayern can improve before the season ends.

Thomas Tuchel Tactics  Tweaks in build-up

Throughout his managerial career, Nagelsmanns coaching style earned a reputation for being somewhat of a chameleon when it came to choosing formations.

During his time with Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig, it was difficult to predict what kind of set-up the promising, young coach would use on any given day. 

This data viz highlights Leipzig’s preferred formations from the 2020/21 season.

His preferred structure was the 3-5-2 formation, but Die Roten was also no strangers to the 4-2-3-1, the 4-4-2, the 4-3-3, and other variations of a back three.

In this respect, Nagelsmann and